Yard Byard: The Jaki Byard Project at The Firehouse Space

Yard Byard: The Jaki Byard Project
features Jamie Baum: Flute, Alto Flute , Adam Kolker: Saxes and Clarinets, Jerome Harris: Guitar, Ugonna Okegwo: Bass , George Schuller: Drums
(Jamie Baum voted #1 Rising Star in the Flute category of the 2012 DownBeat Critics Poll)
For several years, flutist/composer Jamie Baum had been toying with the idea of forming a group of like-minded musicians to honor the late great jazz pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator, Jaki Byard. Since his untimely passing in 1999, it was just a matter of time before someone would come forward to explore this yet untapped body of music. Now that time has come.As one of the most versatile jazz improvisers of our time, Jaki Byard was less known for his compositional prowess than his exuberant and slightly off-kilter piano stylings. But thanks to his years of teaching and mentoring at institutions such as the New England Conservatory of Music and The Manhattan School of Music, we now have a constellation of Byard torch-bearers who make it their business to shed light on what was previously a dim memory. Jaki wasn’t one to display his multi-instrumental and compositional abilities. Instead, it was more about the passing of that unique mantle piece of jazz history to many of his students as experienced with the likes of Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Sam Rivers, Maynard Ferguson, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Richard Davis, Elvin Jones, and many others.It would have been “convenient” to include a pianist and become a living repository of “The Jaki Byard Sound.” However, Yard Byard’s mission is to explore the beauty and creativity of each of Jaki’s compositions as well as to attempt to absorb the serious and whimsical sides of his larger-than-life personality. Focusing mostly on his music, this unique quintet also performs other compositions by some of the great artists Byard worked with or was influenced by, offering a snapshot of jazz history during an important period of American music....

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Yard Byard: The Jaki Byard Project
features Jamie Baum: Flute, Alto Flute , Adam Kolker: Saxes and Clarinets, Jerome Harris: Guitar, Ugonna Okegwo: Bass , George Schuller: Drums
(Jamie Baum voted #1 Rising Star in the Flute category of the 2012 DownBeat Critics Poll)
For several years, flutist/composer Jamie Baum had been toying with the idea of forming a group of like-minded musicians to honor the late great jazz pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator, Jaki Byard. Since his untimely passing in 1999, it was just a matter of time before someone would come forward to explore this yet untapped body of music. Now that time has come.As one of the most versatile jazz improvisers of our time, Jaki Byard was less known for his compositional prowess than his exuberant and slightly off-kilter piano stylings. But thanks to his years of teaching and mentoring at institutions such as the New England Conservatory of Music and The Manhattan School of Music, we now have a constellation of Byard torch-bearers who make it their business to shed light on what was previously a dim memory. Jaki wasn’t one to display his multi-instrumental and compositional abilities. Instead, it was more about the passing of that unique mantle piece of jazz history to many of his students as experienced with the likes of Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Sam Rivers, Maynard Ferguson, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Richard Davis, Elvin Jones, and many others.It would have been “convenient” to include a pianist and become a living repository of “The Jaki Byard Sound.” However, Yard Byard’s mission is to explore the beauty and creativity of each of Jaki’s compositions as well as to attempt to absorb the serious and whimsical sides of his larger-than-life personality. Focusing mostly on his music, this unique quintet also performs other compositions by some of the great artists Byard worked with or was influenced by, offering a snapshot of jazz history during an important period of American music.

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